Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1887-10-12

which we have in abundance. 1t is
only the unattainable, or that which
comes high, that we long for. That is
why we in California shoot fat SOUR
rel and leave it for the vultures and
then go out and pay $125 for pair of
chicken frames, one third head and
comb, one third legs and the remainder
made up of feathers, bones, skin and
inside works. Such is human nature
the world over.
You have probably read of the great
real estate boom" we are having in
and around San Jose. City property
and farming lands, improved and I'M
improved, have advanced greatly since
last May. In some cases city lots have
made an advance of over 300 per cent.
and cases in which they have doubled
are general. UnimprOved farming
lands within four or five miles of the
city that were held last winter at 1925
or $3.50 an acre are now changing hands
at $500 and $500, and in a few cases, as
high as $500 an acre. Thrifty orchards
favorably located, selling at $500 to
$1,000 an acre, according to age and
location.
No matter what one had bought here
last winter in the way of real estate,
he would have found himself able to
sell at a good advance this summer.
And, strange to say, the quality of the
land has not been considered so much
as locatiOn-nearness to the city or to
some proposed electric railway. Ifone
had shut his eyes as to soil when he
bought he would probably had done
better than if he had kept them open.
For instance, l know a property (13
acres two miles from San Jose that the
owner was very anxious to sell last
winter for $4,000, the soil being the
worst kind of adobe-too hard to cut
with an axe in dry weather, and soft
enough to dip up with spoon in wet
Weather-such soil as no man could
work and keep the third command
ment. Well, the owner could not find
a purchaser till the boom came and
then he got $4,000. A few weeks
later the property again changed hands
at $4,000, and then again it was sold
to San Francisco man for $4,000.
Ten acres of the thirteen is hay land.
only about three acres being in fruit.
When one doubts the staying quail
ties of this great San Jose boom, the
enthusiastic boomer merely points to
the Southern California boom which
has been going on five years, and
where the natural advantages are i'm
comparably below those Of the Santa
Clara Valley, and where land has sold
at $1,000 an acre and city residence lots
at $500 front foot.
OF course many people are buying
climate, or investing with the expec-
tation that good many eastern people
are willing to pay pretty heavily for
California climate.
A few words about the climate and l
am done this already too long letter.
believe the climate of this Santa Clara
Valley unequalled in California, which
is as good as saying unequalied in the
United States. The longer live in it
the better like it. There is no chill
ing cold in winter or trying heat in
summer. The weather is so mild and
equable that one hardly thinks of it.
Practically the climate lets one alone,
and that's what one wants climate to
do. While you, beloved eastern read
er, was sweltering with heat of July
and August last, we of the Santa Clara
Valley were going about our vOcatiOns,
wearing light wooden under-clothing
and sleeping under blankets, riding in
open carriages beneath clOudless skies
without thought of sunstrOkes or other
i'll effects of the weather. Though the
mercury may show a high record at
midday for two or three days in sue
cessiOn in July and August, the heat is
rather stimulating than otherwise, and
such hot spells are always followed by
weeks of delightful weather. The
highest record of the mercury during
the past summer was 1010 in the shade,
but I did not find that as trying as 1
have found a temperature of9Oo in your
moist climate of the Atlantic States. A
case of sunstrOke or prostratiOn from
the heat is never heard of here, even in
the interior valleys, where the mercury
may at times go as high as 11O' or 1150
in the shade, and that long train of
summer diseases so fatal in the East
some years, especially to children, are
hardly known here.
A great influx of eastern people dur
ing the autumn and winter months is
expected, and preparations are being
made to house them. Large ad-
ditiOns are being built to the hotels and
work on a new hotel, to be one the fin
est in the State, was begun this week.
There are a number of Peninsula
people in San Jose, all doing pretty
we'll believe. Paul o. Burns, ma
tive of your neighbOring county of
Cecil, is at the head of one of the larg-
est wine companies and Noble T. Bid
die, also a native of Cecil county, is a
prominent member of the Santa Clara
county bar.
There are good opportunities here
for young men of pluck and energy
who have their own way to make in
the world and are not afraid of work.
Honest labor of any sort is not consid-
cred degrading in California, the at
mOsphere is decidedly democratic, pub
lie opinion is decidedly broad and lib
eral, and even hotel clerks are civil,
No, it is not Utopia, but it is good
enough for Yours Truly,
SCOTT WAY.
We indOrse all the prOprietOrs have
said relative to the merits of Salvation
Oil. IL is the greatest cure on earth
r. NJ